Why are sessions so underrated?

Yes, the real world is such a drag on creativity and individual freedoms.

We have train buffs (sometimes cruelly called "rivet counters") who expect absolute authenticity in the operation of a Trainz session but I suspect that the majority of users simply want to drive a train and "damn the schedule".

I quite enjoy your "Chuck and Joe" sessions.

For me when it comes to making routes, I tend to just make a route with no season included, as some of you say, it takes times and there is also the difficulty of selecting the right content for the seasons (like you cant pick pieces of Rolling Stock that are not allowed to be included on a route being uploaded to the DLS for example) and etc. I for one would rather just release a route with no season's, it makes packing up the dependencies a lot easier and it will also allow people to make up their own seasons and to be creative on what they want to do with the route. A good example of this is with the routes created by Jointed Rail and Trainz Italia, Even thou most of the routes take place in more modern times (Well beyond the steam era) there are parts on those routes where you can run a steam engine in certain locations and it still looks right out of the steam era and I've been able to create lots of my own custom seasons because of this. I hardly ever use the seasons that are provided with routes because I just want to use the route to run my trains on them.

Matt3985 said:

I hardly ever use the seasons [sessions] that are provided with routes because I just want to use the route to run my trains on them.

Click to expand...

And that is a perfectly valid reason for only ever downloading routes. Trainz is a simulator, it allows you to create scenarios that have never existed or would never exist in the real world. Hence there are routes set on Mars and other exotic places. You can add your own rolling stock and run trains to your own schedules.

On the other side of the debate are routes set in a particular time and place in the past. These would require sessions that provided, for the "purists" at the very least, the correct rolling stock for that era. The sessions can simulate actual train operations, even following real schedules, for that time and place. Many of these routes would show lines that no longer exist or have been "modernised" to the point that no working sidings remain - for example, a line that was once heavily industrialised is now only used for through (non-stop) containerised freight services.

Trainz caters for all tastes, levels of experience and fantasies (well almost all ).

I always try to make sessions. For my Electro Island v4.0. route I did a few. Mostly they serve as a sort of demonstration. But In the future for the TANE versions of my route I want to do more.

It is difficult to make sessions because of the testing work. For me the that makes testing sometimes very tedious work. But if it works alright then making a session can be one of the most rewarding things there is.

I did download your Northeast Metro. It is an excellent route. For me the reason to download is that you had included a session for each metro line. So for me personally is that a route has to have sessions for me to be interesting.

EDITED to add.

What makes it extra tedious for the coming TANE versions is that a lot of my network is high speed and that as a standard the Trainz sway a lot and the cab sways a lot. So I probably have to include a link to the release thread in the forum along with a tweaking guide of the config.txt of each train in the session to cancel out the train sway. Because otherwise such a session will be not as intended and new users with no clue how to fix this will be put off. So you see. Sessions is also making sure that each rolling stock is working the way you want to. So that is probably also an extra factor. Also a lot of nice contant is sometimes on external sites.

may be a bit off-topic, as you guys are on the creation kick of things. but is there a 'sessions you should play' thread? i enjoy sessions as i play trainz in a very non-prototypical way, but do enjoy the fantasy-out truth-in sessions that some have made(should play them more). but other than the sessions that came with trainz it's a bit hard to find a worthwhile session unless your hitting the freeware section every other week. also makes it hard to find good sessions from older times as i end up spending days going through threads looking for positive comments about X session. if there isnt a thread for sessions then maybe ill start one, but ill have to spend a few weeks just playing the sessions i have before i make one(would be stupid to start a thread telling people to look here for good sessions if i have none of my own to vouch for lol). also, big thanks to anybody who has made a session(and other content). your time is appreciated.